USA team not underdogs anymore, India just another opponent: Jasdeep Singh

Having sprung a few surprises in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, the USA team is not underdogs anymore and the world No. 1 India will be "just another opponent" this time around, says vice-captain Jasdeep Singh.

USA will begin their campaign with a clash against defending champions India here on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium, looking to build on their impressive show from last edition when they made it to Super Eight.

"We are a far better team than 2024, we were pretty new on the scene but this time surely we are not the underdogs and teams are counting on us," Jasdeep told PTI Videos in an exclusive interview.

"We are in this World Cup to make a mark and put US cricket on the World Map. India is just another opponent for us and we'll do things to the best of our capacity, plan well and we go into the game thinking it as just another game and see how things go," he added.

Jasdeep was born in the US but returned to India at the age of three. He went back to the US at the age of 13 but by then, the cricket fever had caught up with him. 

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"When I started pursuing this dream, cricket was nowhere in the United States," he said.

"I grew up in Jersey mostly. There's a really big South Indian community where they play cricket. My dad has a lot of friends there. They would play cricket there on the driveway with a tennis ball and I would hang along with him to play on the weekends."  "I was familiar with the sport in India so I used to run in fast and bowl, everybody started praising and told my dad that your kid is good. They pushed him that I should be playing a league or so," Jasdeep added.

For the right-arm seamer, the journey truly began when he got to know there was an opportunity to represent USA.

"In 2010 I came to know that USA was playing U19 World Cup in New Zealand. I was 16 or 17 then, that moment ignited the fire in me that I can be one of these guys one day," Jasdeep recalled.

"When I was thinking of representing USA at the World Cup, I compared it with Australia, England and India. I had no idea about the struggle I had to go through."  "The feeling is different for an Associate nation in comparison to a full member nation. I grew up through hardships, I was working 8 to 8 at that young age so that gave me kind of escape route to get out of there and pursue something I will enjoy more."  Talking about the challenge of facing an on-song Indian batting line-up which includes world No. 1 Abhishek Sharma, Jasdeep wants to trust his fearless approach.

"I play fearless and have a big heart, then only I do well. I like to soak up the pressure and take on the challenges," he explained.

"My life is built around it, I like to be fearless and not think much of the opponent and that's the best you can do at this level. I only think to do things according to the best of my abilities and enjoy the challenge," Jasdeep added.

With cricket set to return in LA28 Games, Jasdeep hopes the Olympics also bring about a change in grassroots level for the sport in the US.

"We are hoping and certain that the US Olympics can fill in the gaps we are talking about for the last decade or so," he said.

"They're going to bring a lot to the grassroots level where we can introduce cricket at the school level and universities... Olympics will open more channels for native American kids to be thinking it as career option," he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)